


Legem Vitae — The Law of Life

by ragtag_slyboots



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Necromancy, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15509985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragtag_slyboots/pseuds/ragtag_slyboots
Summary: Angela "Mercy" Ziegler has an in-game ability to resurrect fellow players. Seems awfully necromantic to me.An Alternate Universe in which they live in a pseudo-Victorian, fantasy era. Angela Ziegler is already an outlier as a female physician, and she has been experimenting with other, unmentionable methods in secret. As the best of doctors, her work doesn’t end after the patient’s heart stops beating. That’s just quitter’s talk.





	Legem Vitae — The Law of Life

“You’re sure this will work?”

Angela pursed her lips and busied herself with readying the supplies beside her. She had a decision to make, as the truthful answer might not have been the one that her friend wanted to hear. She settled with a simple, “We shall see.”

It seemed good enough for the younger woman. Hana folded her hands in her lap and stared down at the veiled corpse between them with a calmness that stirred concern within Angela. No young woman should have to be so comfortable with death. Not even such a capable warrior as Hana. 

There were other things to occupy Angela’s mind, though, like the several laws she was about to break, and the ones that she had already broken. Some of these laws were on paper; others were in the air, drafted into the the very fabric of existence. 

She finished the last sigil on the wooden floor of the cabin with the soft, satisfying crunch of chalk under her fingers and began on the candles— north, south, east, west were soon all lit, their wicks flickering to life and sending brief sparks floating into the air of the cabin, already charged with strange, arcane energy. Angela felt as though she and Hana were not alone, and would not be surprised if they weren’t. Any number of inhuman presences in the forest could be drawn to the nature of the magic they were about to invoke. Angela tried not to betray how uneasy this made her. 

Slowly, she uncovered the corpse, bringing him fully into the cabin with them. Jack Morrison’s face, lifeless but bearing the spirit of many memories, sent pins of mourning through her heart. A glance up revealed that Hana had still not looked away, nor hardly even flinched. 

Angela swallowed, taking the small dagger from beside her and opening her palm. With the quick, precise movement of an experienced physician, she drew blood from the soft flesh there and set the instrument back down, so that she could dip her fingers in the blood and daub the crimson across the dead man’s cheeks. 

Normally, she worked in silence, but she felt a need to empart safety upon her and her comrades well up inside of her breast. She tended to the remaining material preparation of the ritual while singing tenderly a song in an old tongue, the language of her kin.

Soon it was time for the concatenation of events, for the magic to be brought fully forth. Her heart hammered in her chest as she began sprinkling ash and bone over the corpse, and finally, she shifted into an even older tongue. The Latin incantation felt strange in her mouth, and tasted like tin.

The cabin was alive now, with an energy arcane, old, powerful, and dangerous. Hana’s eyes became fixed on Angela as the older woman delivered words that no longer seemed human. 

The ritual struck a crescendo, and both women jumped back as the body ignited. 

Heat nor chill emanated from the golden flames, but the form within them seemed to glow, ever brighter until its features were no longer discernible. 

A powerful ripple of energy, almost like wind, swept through the house with the body as its epicenter, extinguishing the fire instantaneously. The moment born after was of such silence and stillness that Angela thought her heart might stop. 

But oh did it beat, did it thrum, did it race as Jack Morrison slowly looked to her with the eyes of a living man.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to update this next week, as I have some plotstuff in mind! By all means, kudos and comments are welcome. Let me know if you want more!
> 
> Big thanks to @deathishauntedbyhumans and @humorless_hexagon for your help!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @bagobats


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